Agriculture marked a dramatic change in how people lived together. They began dwelling in larger, more organized communities, such as farming villages and towns. From some of these settlements, cities gradually emerged, forming the backdrop of a more complex way of life - civilization.
In this lesson, we will understand the meaning of the term 'civilization', how civilization develops, and explain its common characteristics.
Over the centuries, people settled in stable communities that were based on agriculture. They domesticated animals and invented new tools like hoes, sickles, and plow sticks to make farming easier. As technology developed, agricultural harvest increased. Now, settlements with a plentiful supply of food could support larger populations, and thus, the population of some early farming villages increased. This complicated the social structure. The change from simple villages to cities was a gradual process that spanned several generations.
To cultivate more land and to produce extra crops, ancient people built elaborate irrigation systems. The resulting food surpluses freed some villagers to pursue other jobs and to develop skills besides farming. Individuals who learned to become craftspeople created valuable new products, such as pottery metal objects, and woven cloth. Some other individuals became traders and profited from exchanging goods like craftwork, grains, and many raw materials. Two important inventions - the wheel and sail - also enabled traders to move more goods over longer distances.
With the complex and prosperous economy, the social structure of village life also got affected. For example, building and operating large irrigation systems required the labor of many people. This led to the formation of other special groups of workers and gave rise to social classes with varying wealth, power, and influence. A system of social classes would become more clearly defined as cities grew.
Religion also became organized. During the Old Stone Age, nature, animal spirits, and some idea of an afterlife were central to the religious beliefs of prehistoric people. Slowly, people began to worship many gods and goddesses who they believed had power over the rain, wind, and other forces of nature. Early city dwellers developed rituals founded on these earlier religious beliefs. As populations grew, common spiritual values became more permanent religious traditions.
Most historians believe that one of the first civilizations arose in Sumer. Sumer was located in Mesopotamia, a region that is part of modern Iraq.
Anthropologists define what civilizations are, and what societies form civilizations.
Most scholars define civilization as a complex human society, made up of different cities, with certain characteristics of cultural and technological development. But not scholars agree with this definition. What societies form civilization is a subjective decision. There is always a debate over what constitutes a civilization and what does not.
The word "civilization" comes from the Latin word "civitas" or "city". This is why the most basic definition of the word "civilization" is a society made of cities. In the past, anthropologists used two different terms "civilized society" and "civilization" to distinguish between societies they found culturally superior, and those they found culturally inferior (which were referred to as "savage" or "barbaric" cultures). Largely, the term 'civilization' was considered to be morally good and culturally advanced, and other societies being morally wrong and "backward". This is the reason why the definition of civilization has been changing.
Still, most anthropologists believe that to define a society as a civilization there are a few criteria:
Apart from the above, civilization also have their own form of writing and artwork, focus on trading, buildings, and development of science and technology.
However, many scholars believe that not all civilizations meet all of the criteria above. For example, the Incan Empire was a large civilization with a government and social hierarchy. It had no written language but immense remarkable art and architecture.
Even though it is so hard to define the concept of 'civilization', it is still a helpful framework to view how humans come together over different periods of time and formed a society.
Most scholars agree that there are eight characteristics of a civilization:
Advanced cities
As farmers settled in the fertile river valleys, they began to grow surplus or extra food. This extra food increased the population of the settlement that led to the formation of cities. A city is a large group of people who live together in a specific space. A city is usually a center for trade, and city dwellers create goods that can be traded along with services for the city.
Government
The growing population of cities made government or a system of rules necessary. Leaders emerged to maintain order and establish laws. Governments began to oversee the business or running and maintaining the cities. All civilizations have a system of government to direct people's behavior and make life orderly. They also make and enforce laws, collect taxes, and protect its citizens. In the first civilizations, governments usually were led by monarchs - kings or queens who rule a kingdom - who organized armies to protect their populations and made laws to regulate their subjects' (citizens') lives.
Religion
Important religious developments also characterized the new urban (city) civilizations. All of them developed religions to explain the forces of nature and their roles in the world. They believed that gods and goddesses were important to the community's success. To win their favor, priests (religious leaders) supervised rituals (traditions) aimed at pleasing them. This gave the priests special power and made them very important people. Rules also claimed that their power was based on divine approval, and some rulers claimed to be divine (godly).
Job specialization
As cities grew, so did the need for specialized workers. No longer could one individual do all the work. Food surplus provided for the need for specialized skills from workers. Specialization helped workers refine their skills and specialize in one specific task.
Ancient Greek craftsmen
Class structure
Classes mean groups of people being divided by their wealth/income and type of work performed. When the division is based on income, it is characterized as 'economic class'. For example, rulers and upper class of priests, government officials, and warriors with enormous amounts of money and land; serfs or people who worked the land had almost nothing. Eventually, a merchant economic class developed as the middle-class. The class can also refer to the type of work people performed. There are many divisions of social class, for example, scholars and political leaders who were considered to be at the top, below this a large class of free people like artisans, farmers, and craftsmen; and at the bottom slaves.
Shared communication
This is another element that all civilizations share. It may include spoken language, alphabets, numeric systems, signs, ideas and symbols, and illustration and representation. Shared communication allows the infrastructure necessary for technology, trade, cultural exchange, and government to be developed and shared throughout civilization. Writing, in particular, allows civilizations to record their own history and everyday events which is crucial for understanding ancient cultures. The world's oldest known written language is Sumerian, which developed in Mesopotamia around 3100 BCE. The most familiar form of early Sumerian writing was called cuneiform, and it was used to keep track of taxes, grocery bills, and laws for things like theft.
Cuneiform writing
Art
All civilizations have a highly developed culture including the arts. The significant artistic activity was an important feature of civilizations. Art includes creative forms of expressions such as painting, architecture, literature, and music. Architects built temples and pyramids as places for worship or sacrifice, or for the burial of kings and other important people. Painters and sculptors portrayed (showed) stories of nature. They also provided depictions (drawings) of the rulers and gods they worshipped.
Ancient pottery art
Infrastructure
This includes structures such as roads, dams, or post offices, paid for by government funds for public use. The government would order these, although costly to aid and benefit the community.
An aqueduct in Ancient Rome
